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Saturday, March 13, 2021

Strong 2 Club Opening -- a sample hand

 

Today we’ll look at the strong 2 club opening bid. As you should already know the 2 club opening bid is a strong, artificial bid showing a hand that is 22+ points or one trick short of game with no help from partner other than a trump fit. We’ll use an example hand to explore the bidding and go through a plan for the play of the hand.

This hand came up in an online game that I was playing, it is a difficult hand, but instructive.

North



South

 


West was dealer and everyone passed to South. South has 23 high card points plus 2 distribution points for the six-card spade suit and one more distribution point for the second 4-card suit. That’s 26 points. If we count playing tricks we might expect 2 losers in spades and half a loser in diamonds. This hand clearly qualifies for a 2 club opener.

North counts 5 points in high cards and can count 2 points in distribution, one for the fifth heart and one for a second suit. That comes up just shy of the 8 points needed for a positive response. North bids 2 diamonds to deny 8 points.

Now, south bids her spade suit. There is no reason to show any extra strength. She just shows her 5-card suit by bidding 2 spades.

North is forced to keep the bidding open until one trick short of game. He is not too happy to hear that his partner’s best suit is spades. He shows his longest suit by bidding 3 hearts.

It is unfortunate that the suits that each player has gets the bidding elevated so quickly. South has a tough choice at this point. She could bid her club suit, asking partner to show a preference, but partner only needs 2 cards in spades to make an 8-card trump suit. South doesn’t want to stop short of game since her hand looks like it can take 10 ½ tricks all on its own. The half trick comes from the AQ of diamonds. Half the time East will hold the King and the finesse will win, assuming that there is some transportation to the board.

Bidding 3 no trump is possible. Partner’s hearts might not be that useful, though. It might be difficult to get to the board to cash them if they set up.

South decided to just take a leap of faith that partner would have a spade or two and bid 4 spades.

Now, North is in a tight spot. Anything he bids is going to be at the 5 level, and maybe still won’t result in a trump fit. He passes. Passing as soon as possible when a misfit is suspected is usually a good choice.

The opening lead is the 5 of hearts. Now, South plans the play of the hand. He has no losers in the off suits. Trumps are the only issue. The opponents hold 7 trumps between them. If the trumps break 4-3, declarer can lose 3 trump tricks and make the contract. Pulling trump is the first order of business. Even though the opponents hold most of the big trump cards, we want them playing two of their trump cards on as many tricks as possible.

Declarer takes the A of hearts and leads the A of spades. Both opponents follow suit. Next, she leads the 9 of spades. East goes up with the J and West follows suit. So far, so good.

East returns the Q of hearts. Ordinarily declarer would like to avoid ruffing with the long hand (the hand that holds the most trump), but there is no loser to discard from the hand. Declarer has no choice but to win the trick with a small trump.

Declarer continues by leading a small trump. East shows out (darn it!) and West wins with the 10.

Now, declarer knows that East holds 2 more trumps that will win tricks. There is no point in pulling those trumps. East can take them whenever he wants. Declarer will save her small trumps to maintain control of the heart suit. East could pull declarer’s trumps if he wants, but declarer will still have one left to regain the lead if hearts are led.

The rest of the hand is straight forward. Declarer takes tricks in the side suits and lets East trump in whenever he chooses. Unfortunately, the opponents end up with 4 trump tricks and the contract is set.

 

 

 

Sunday, March 7, 2021

My partner opened 1 of a major. What should I be thinking?

 Last week we explored what you should be thinking about when your partner opens with a one bid in a minor suit. In that situation, supporting your partner's suit was sort of a last resort. When your partner opens a major suit, supporting your partner's suit should be your first consideration. You might have a long suit of your own, but if you have adequate trump support, you have found a major suit fit. Be happy about it.

When you have adequate trump support

Let's review what adequate trump support (ATS) is. You have ATS when you can be sure that your side has at least 8 trumps. Your partner's opening bid shows a 5-card suit, so you need 3 cards to support it.

If you have ATS, your responses are well defined. Count your high-card points and distribution points in your short suits. Your hand will fit into one of these categories:

0-5 points: Pass. You are going to pass with less than 6 points, no matter what.

6-9 points: Make a minimum raise to 2 in partner's suit.

10-12 points: Make a jump raise to 3 in partner's suit.

13-18 points: Bid a new suit. You'll show your support on a later round. 

19+ points: Jump in a new suit. This bid is called a "jump shift."

Note that sometimes you will need to "invent" a new suit to bid. You might have nothing longer than 3 cards in every suit other than your partner's. No problem. Your new suit bid is forcing for one round. A jump shift is forcing to game. You will have another chance to bid. You can bid your partner's suit, then. You won't get stuck in your 3-card suit. Choosing a minor suit as your "invention" is better than lying about the other major. It is less likely that you will need to discourage your partner from continuing in your invented suit after you come back to support the opening suit if you lied about a having a 4-card minor.

 When you don't have adequate trump support

When you don't have ATS, your responses are similar to how you bid when your partner opens with a minor suit. You bid your 4-card suits "up the line." That is, you bid the cheapest one first. Remember, though, that you need 10 points to bid a new suit at the 2 level (known as a "2 over 1" response.) Since your partner opened either 1 heart or 1 spade, there are limited choices for your bids with less than 10 points. If you have 6-9 points, and can't bid your suit because it will take you to the 2 level, bid 1 no trump. You make this bid even if your hand doesn't look too much like a no trump hand. Your partner knows this, although he might still pass.

If you have 10 points, go ahead and bid your suit. Bid the longest one first. With equal length 4-card suits, bid the cheaper one first. With two 5-card suits, bid the higher ranking one first. You may have an opportunity to show your second suit on a later round, and you want to give your partner a chance to come back to your first suit without raising the level of the bidding.

When you have more than adequate trump support

If you have 4 or more cards in partner's suit, you have another option. First of all, you can count more points for distribution in your short suits because you have extra trump support. Count 3 points for a singleton and 5 points for a void. A doubleton is still worth just 1 point.

OK, that little side note just tells you where you fit on the scale for raising your partner's suit. I promised you another option. There is a "shutout" raise where you jump to 4 in partner's suit. This bid sounds strong, but it really isn't. It is a special bid for when you have all of these requirements:

  1. At least 4-card support for partner's suit
  2. A singleton or void
  3. Less than 10 high card points (don't count distribution)
Your bid requests partner to pass. You expect to make the bid, but the opponents are marked with some strength, because of your lack of high cards. You want to keep them out of the bidding.


 

 

 

Bidding Fast, Then Slow

  Today, we’ll look at another slam bidding sequence. Sally is the dealer and passes. Walt holds Walt ♠ KQ7532 ♥ KQJ6 ♦ J3 ♣ 5 Th...